A relationship word can change form

The 1851 Lodiana grammar places its word for father in a masculine declension table. It shows singular and plural forms, then the forms used with several case relations. Its final note says the vocative is seldom used. That observation belongs to this particular description: a grammatical table can include an address form without claiming that people commonly address a parent that way. For a reader following family relationships in a historical passage, the useful starting point is therefore the complete entry, including its inflected forms and the author’s usage note.[1]

Which side of the family?

Wilson’s 1899 Shahpur list makes distinctions hidden by a single English relationship label. Dādā identifies the father’s father, while nānā identifies the mother’s father. Chāchā and māmā separate a father’s brother from a mother’s brother; phupphī and māsī distinguish the corresponding aunts. The list also separates a son’s son from a daughter’s son. These entries help a reader follow a particular family connection without collapsing several relationships into grandfather, uncle or grandchild. The heading points to a Code of Tribal Custom, whose precise edition is not established here. This is a historical vocabulary witness, rather than evidence of a present legal entitlement or a universal family practice.[2]

A shared gloss can hide different patterns

The Lodiana tables give mother and daughter separate feminine examples. Both receive singular and plural paradigms, but their endings are organised under different varieties. Later on the same page, a different word glossed as mother appears among nouns described as indeclinable. English mother therefore does not identify one single inflectional pattern even within this book. When a family word looks different in a sentence, compare its headword, number and accompanying case expression before deciding that it names another relative. The tables describe word forms; they do not supply a family tree.[1]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Lodiana American Presbyterian Mission Press; J. Newton attribution in the archive catalogue; Rev. J. Porter, press superintendent. A Grammar of the Panjabi Language; with Appendices ↗Historical descriptive and teaching grammar · Source date: 1851 · Locator: Printed pp.10,12/PDF23,25: father, mother and daughter paradigms; §36 indeclinable mother entry. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected actual original pages were inspected, with page images controlling script and table alignment. This is a dated description, without a listening check or certification of current universal usage. Original attribution and finite text scope remain qualified.Return to A relationship word can change form, paragraph 1 ↑Return to A shared gloss can hide different patterns, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. J. Wilson; acknowledged assistance of Munshi Mahbub Alam; Punjab Government Press. Grammar and Dictionary of Western Panjabi, as Spoken in the Shahpur District, with Proverbs, Sayings and Verses ↗Historical district grammar and dictionary · Source date: 1899 imprint; preface September 1898 · Locator: Vocabulary printed p.53/PDF137: relationship table and its Code of Tribal Custom cross-reference; following affinal continuation is not used. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected actual original pages were inspected, with page images controlling script and table alignment. This is a dated description, without a listening check or certification of current universal usage. Original attribution and finite text scope remain qualified.Return to Which side of the family?, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-LAN-0089 · English edition · human review not performed